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Holy City Hitters: Read about the history of baseball in Charleston

Holy City Hitters: Read about the history of baseball in Charleston
April 2022
WRITER: 

See more images in “Charleston in Sports: A Photographic History, 1890s-1960s” on view in the Lowcountry Image Gallery through December.



An unidentified player from the Charleston Rebels baseball team stands in the dugout with spectators sitting in the bleachers in this circa-1950 image, part of an ongoing Charleston Museum exhibit examining the rise of sports across the country during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the late 1800s, the Charleston Seagulls, part of the newly formed Southern League, became the first professional baseball team to play in the city. During the following decades, the local team was called the Palmettos, shorted to “Pals,” and subsequently renamed the Charleston Rebels in the early ’50s. The Charleston Royals, who played for five years as an affiliate of the Kansas City Royals, rebranded as the Charleston Rainbows in 1985, switching to the RiverDogs moniker in 1993. See more images in “Charleston in Sports: A Photographic History, 1890s-1960s” on view in the Lowcountry Image Gallery through December. Please contact the museum’s archivist with any information on the identity of this handsome fellow. 

Want to cheer on the home team this spring? The RiverDogs will open the 2022 season against the Myrtle Beach Pelicans on Friday, April 8th.